Category Archive

Intrepid backcountry ski & snowboard adventurers! Another spring is in full swing, and that means it’s time to issue our (11th annual!) State of the Backcountry Report for the Eastern Sierra. Every spring, as the snowpack starts to shrink faster than it grows we like to help folks out with some up to date info to ride out the spring ski planning with. This report comes a bit later than usual, as we anticipate the spring skiing to be good …

Hi all – Spring is in full swing in the Eastern Sierra. We have warm summer temps for a few days and then snow expected this weekend. There is still some ice to be found in shaded pockets but the for the most part the ice climbers have hung up tools for the season and out for spring ski tours, rock climbing, getting into the alpine, or in my case kayaking the epic snowmelt in the sierra drainages. Thanks …

Happy spring Eastern Sierra skiers and riders! Hope you are enjoying the Sierra backcountry season so far. It’s only around half way done. And with that in mind I would like this post to serve a few different purposes: 1) to help inform you about recent and current conditions as per usual, 2) to celebrate June Mountain and all that it offers us backcountry recreators on the eve of it’s annual spring closure, and 3) to report on a tour …

Hi backcountry skiers and snowboard riders, We meet again! We have neglected this report for a month and a half now. If this has pissed you off… then good. I guess we are doing it well, when we do it. But anyone who actually has been skiing in the Eastern Sierra since we last reported knows that really there has been little to report, other than that this amazing winter got even better through late February. If this is news …

Hi Ice Climbers. It is March and the Ice Conditions are in Prime shape….Longer days, well filled in approach, and thick fat ice are all making this the best time to climb ice in Lee Vining Canyon. June Lake Ice is still buried by snow up high and Roadside ice is mostly sun rotten, but the ice in the Narrows, Bard-Harrington, Main Wall and Chouinard Falls are in great shape. The avalanche activity has been pretty heavy duty this year and …

Major busy week for Avalanche activity – fun midweek high pressure with weekend storms!! Hi all conditions were very rowdy over this past dynamic week with a storm last weekend and another one currently dumping snow on us with the combination of some warm sunny days and winds we have had a lot of avalanche activity in the canyon…far more than typical!!! Last Sunday was the first clear day with lots of solar radiation cooking the snowpack and there was …

Hey Ice Climbers….we have another dynamic week of ice climbing to dive into with this weeks report!!! Check out our video below…Highlights include the Narrows Getting thinner and hooked out, Bard Harrington climbable on many different routes, Mainwall being fat, and Chouinards being hooked out and filled in nicely. Avy danger has been real, and many inexperienced parties have been walking through terrain traps and not carrying avy gear or floatation for the approach. Please remember if you are top …

Hi Ice Climbers – Sorry for the delay of our weekly Ice Conditions Report. We have been busy shoveling and digging out from our epic record setting month of snowfall. Conditions have been perfect for Ice climbing formation, and there has been a lot of changes in the past 2 weeks. The big news is after the past several years of dry conditions…the Bard Harrington Wall has Ice – YEAH!!! Check out our Lee Vining Ice Conditions Video Report… June …

Good day to you backcountry skiers and riders, And a good day for all of us. We did it! Our collective pleas to the snow gods have been answered. A little late, but wow. The call has been answered in force. As I write this during a much needed rest day it is snowing huge flakes at around 2″/hour at 4000′ elevation in the town of Bishop. It has been a while since our last report, but I think everyone …

Hi Ice climbers Welcome to our first report since our big early January snow dumps. It has been a wild past week since our last report. Mammoth pass hit 20 Inches of water that fell from the sky in all forms. Heavy wet snow, flood causing rain, and light fluffy powder. Luckily the eastern sierra has the elevation to have more of the latter than other parts of the west coast. The good news is that the 5 days of …

Greetings Ice Climbers….What an exciting week of weather for California Ice climbers and backcountry mountain users. The conditions are constantly changing during one of the wettest winter months that we have had in a long time. Since our last report we have had nice well forming ice on new years day with lots of folks out climbing at Horsetail, Roadside, and Lee Vining Canyon. I spent my New years Day climbing pitches on the Main wall which has been fattening …

Happy New Year backcountry skiers and snowboarders! Early season snow conditions have been great and it was a wonderful holiday season… yadda, yadda. The relevant thing to be talking about though is not what has been (check out our earlier reports for that), but what is to come… Our New Year’s resolution is to ski more powder, and more powder we shall ski! At least if model forecasts have any credibility in this decade. The NWS is calling for over …

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